Of the quadrupedal animals, the flesh of those that feed upon herbs is the most wholesome and nutritious for human food. In the early ages, the ox was used as a religious sacrifice, and, in the eyes of the Egyptians was deemed so sacred as to be worthy of exaltation to represent Taurus, one of the twelve signs of the zodiac. To this day, the Hindoos venerate the cow, whose flesh is forbidden to be eaten, and whose fat, supposed to have been employed to grease the cartridges of the Indian army, was one of the proximate causes of the great Sepoy rebellion of 1857. There are no animals of greater use to man than the tribe to which the ox belongs. There is hardly a part of them that does not enter into some of the arts and purposes of civilized life. Of their horns are made combs, knife-handles, boxes, spoons, and drinking-cups. They are also made into transparent plates for lanterns; an invention ascribed, in England, to King Alfred. Glue is made from their gristles, cartilages, and portions of their hides. Their bones often form a substitute for ivory; their skins, when calves, are manufactured into vellum; their blood is the basis of Prussian blue; their sinews furnish fine and strong threads, used by saddlers; their hair enters into various manufactures; their tallow is made into candles; their flesh is eaten, and the utility of the milk and cream of the cow is well known.
Reading list for 2012!
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Believe it or not but I have been reading books in 2011. Mostly on my
Kindle, but I did forget to update this blog. However I thought it would be
good to r...
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